My children reminded me of an important creativity lesson today as we discussed how their swim goggles didn’t fit or were leaking. I asked them how many different heads there are in the world. They said they didn’t know. (I’m not sure if they were pulling my leg or not…such a simple question that was and they always seem to have the answers!) Then, I said, if you don’t know, how can you expect the goggle makers to create goggles able to fit each individual head.
We talked about making adjustments and being flexible, able to try new things and work with something to figure out a problem.
As a parent, it presented me with an opportunity to re-focus that there is more than one way to look at something. For if we tell our children that there is only one way to look at the goggles or a problem, then their thinking becomes rigid and un-creative. A lot of times this could lead to a lack of motivation to try new ways to solve a problem or to look at something.
Often we forget that in work and in parenting. Even though I remind myself, it bears repeating: there is never a right way (or only one way) to approach something.
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